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Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 1:44 PM ET

SMMT max pain

Spot (delayed)$13.63
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$13-4.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.65±26.8% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.481K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$12largest put OI
Fri, Aug 2114.5Fri, Aug 2814.5Fri, Sep 414Fri, Sep 1114Fri, Sep 1813Fri, Sep 2513Fri, Oct 1614Fri, Jan 1514+4 further out

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$14.5+6.4%5d
Fri, Aug 28$14.5+6.4%12d
Fri, Sep 4$14+2.7%19d
Fri, Sep 11$14+2.7%26d
Fri, Sep 18$13-4.6%33d
Fri, Sep 25$13-4.6%40d
Fri, Oct 16$14+2.7%61d
Fri, Jan 15$14+2.7%152d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1371013161922$2M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 13 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot137111417212K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SMMT open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

Open-interest change — building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration — the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot1371114172111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Greeks by strike · Fri, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
——7————
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——11————
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——14————
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——16————
——17————
——18————
——20————
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Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot59.51416.5202K0
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot191419274013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 87K call contracts, 53K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: SMMT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk